Matteo Lunelli - Ferrari sparkling wine, Italian pride conquering the world

Made in Italy: always a byword for “well made”.

Italianness that stands, around the world, for excellence, passion, creativity and attention to detail.

What makes being Italian so distinctive, and envied everywhere, is the ability to create an emotion and carry it into everything we do.

The beauty of our landscapes, design, fashion, art and good food evoke an emotion that anyone, especially the foreign visitor, will carry with them forever. The same is true of wine, because a great wine is the expression of a place and its people.

Ferrari Trentodoc is a sparkling wine born in the mountains of Trentino and, after more than a century of history, it has become the Italian toast par excellence.

It is the Italian sparkling wine for great occasions that “celebrates a taste for beauty and the art of living”. It is precisely this beauty and this art of living that the whole world envies us.

The Ferrari Trento legend began with Giulio Ferrari's dream of creating a wine in Trentino that could stand up to the greatest French champagnes. Having no heirs, in 1952 he entrusted his dream to Bruno Lunelli, who owned a wine shop in Trento. Thanks to his passion and great entrepreneurial talent, Bruno turned Giulio's wishes into reality. Today Marcello, Matteo, Camilla and Alessandro represent the third Lunelli generation in the company, which has since become a Group, with the aim of taking Ferrari around the world as an ambassador of the Italian Art of Living. Matteo Lunelli, Chief Executive of the Group and Chairman of Fondazione Altagamma, told us how a path of excellence begins and how the high-end world must keep working so that Italy's star continues to shine brightly in the firmament of global luxury.

Mr Lunelli, let's start with the most recent event. Ferrari Trento sparkling wine took centre stage at the G20. What did this milestone mean for you and for the company?

“It was a great honour for us to be chosen as the toast for the world leaders gathered in Rome for the G20. The Lunelli Group aims to represent the excellence of Italian drinks around the world, and this was an excellent opportunity for us to let world leaders taste our products, which express the many distinctive features of our land. As well as Ferrari, those attending the summit could quench their thirst with Surgiva water and try Tassoni cedrata.

It isn't the first institutional event we have had the privilege of taking part in. We have to go back to the 1970s and 1980s, when the then President of the Republic, Sandro Pertini, decided to replace champagne with an Italian sparkling wine and Ferrari was selected. Since then we have had the pleasure of being served at many events at the Quirinale. We were also the toast at several editions of the G8 and at major events such as Expo. In 1906 Giulio Ferrari won an important medal at Expo; in 2015 we returned to Expo Milano in a leading role as the toast of the Italy Pavilion, a very prestigious moment.”

So the world leaders liked Ferrari Trentodoc?

“At the working lunch, which I attended, since it was an extremely formal occasion only very small tastings took place. At the gala dinner, which was a more convivial moment, we received a very warm response.

At the end of this important event we chose to present each head of state with a selection of Ferrari Trento or Tassoni cedrata.”

The Lunelli Group represents the excellence of Italian drinks. The constant pursuit of quality, elegance and an unbreakable bond with the land are the values it expresses. But there is also a strong focus on sustainability, both environmental and social. Can you tell us about it?

“Environmental and social sustainability is a very important element and value of our company culture and of the way we do business.

We are very proud to say that during 2020, a truly difficult year, we stayed close to all our stakeholders and kept our attention on the places and communities we are part of, even though this period brought a fall in turnover of almost 20% at Group level.

We showed social responsibility by standing by all our staff. Some of our companies were particularly hard hit by the pandemic, such as Surgiva, which sells exclusively to hotels, restaurants and bars, and we had to use the state furlough scheme and close the company for a while. To make sure our staff didn't suffer a cut in income, however, we topped up the furlough pay. We also supported our customers in the hospitality channel, granting extended payment terms and organising training webinars. Finally, we tried to support the communities where our companies are based too, donating around €400,000.

We wanted to send a strong message of social responsibility and show our strong bond with the land. Our focus on sustainability also translates into a strong focus on protecting the environment. In Trentino all the vineyards we own are certified organic. Organic viticulture in Trentino is complex because the climate is certainly harsher than in other parts of Italy. Nevertheless, we have shown it can be done and we have taken this culture of sustainability to our grape suppliers, with whom we have shared a protocol for sustainable mountain viticulture. We believe sustainability is something that must embrace the business in every respect, both socially and environmentally. It's something we care about enormously; in fact we recently completed Ferrari Trento's first sustainability report and our goal is to publish a Group report. We think it's right to assess our social and environmental performance every year, setting precise goals for the future and constantly measuring our commitment to sustainability.”

The Lunelli Group has launched a development plan to meet strong market demand and keep investing in the quality of its Trentodoc wines. There is talk of an investment of almost €26 million to strengthen the Ravina plant and hire at least 16 new staff. A company that never stops looking ahead.

“In fact the investment over the coming years will be greater, because once the production expansion at the Ravina plant is finished, we will work on and invest in a complete renovation of the visitor facilities.

We are studying new concepts for the whole area dedicated to hospitality and winery visits.

Over 5 years the investment will be substantial and the number of people hired will probably be higher too. Our Group is growing strongly, we have interesting goals for all our brands, first and foremost Ferrari Trento, which in Italy holds a leading position at the high end of Italian sparkling wine, but abroad still has plenty of room to grow. The partnership with Formula 1 goes in this direction: it's a great international platform that can give us great visibility in a great many countries. We will continue to invest in the quality and excellence of our Trentodoc wines, in the vineyard and in the cellar, in ever more sustainable quality and excellence, continuing a journey we began many years ago. A quality, sustainable product increasingly tied to experience.

We are convinced that it is experience that gives emotion, and that only emotion leaves a lasting memory.

For each brand we have well-defined goals and a strategy. Surgiva, for example, has great prospects abroad. We have drawn up a plan for Bisol, which aims to make this wine a benchmark brand for Prosecco Superiore di Valdobbiadene, and with Tassoni cedrata we want to build a project that makes the most of its extraordinary tradition as the key to the future and positions it as the high-end Italian soft drink.”

You mentioned it earlier. The Ferrari success story that saw Italian sparkling wine replace the most illustrious French champagnes on the Formula 1 podium. The reason for the deal behind this partnership is clear, but what is the Lunelli Group's relationship with sport in general?

“Ferrari has a long-standing relationship with sport and we have been the toast of many extraordinary events in this field too. One of the most important and historic dates back to 1982, when the Italian national football team toasted its World Cup win on the pitch at the Santiago Bernabéu. Our Ferrari Trentodoc has flowed for several of Alberto Tomba's victories, for Italian basketball, for Casa Italia at many editions of the Olympics, most recently Tokyo, so full of successes and medals. We witnessed Juventus's victories for many years, Luna Rossa's in the last America's Cup, and this latest step into Formula 1 is something of a crowning moment for this philosophy.

The F1 podium is probably the most iconic celebration in the world of sport. Being there is a source of great pride and a great opportunity. We also share many values with Formula 1: passion, innovation and excellence, understood as the continuous effort to improve every detail. We are proud to have brought a touch of Italian style to the podium of an event followed all over the world.”

We mustn't forget that a great many Italian families celebrate their milestones and moments of joy with Ferrari Trento sparkling wine…

“And it is Italian families who have made our sparkling wine such a prestigious product. It is a constant source of pride for us to be chosen to enhance and make memorable the most important moments and emotions of Italians. We have always aimed to create products that can be identified with positive moments, with happiness, with sharing, and I think there is a real need for that right now.”

Your latest acquisition is the Tassoni brand, a historic brand from Salò with more than 220 years of history. What did this choice mean for you?

“Tassoni is a historic brand that has become part of our country's collective imagination. It is an extraordinary heritage of more than two centuries. It's a much-loved brand whose communication became iconic: from the posters of the 1920s and 1930s, to the legendary Carosello, to the collaboration with Mina. A brand that carries an enormous wealth of tradition and emotion that we believe in deeply.

And it is on this heritage that we believe a very important development plan can be built, one that will not betray tradition but will make ever more of it and renew it. Tassoni is a wonderful company, with a strong brand and great know-how. Beyond the brand there is also extraordinary expertise in creating natural flavourings; the flavourings are extracted naturally from fine fruit through distillation. No chemical colourings are used; in fact the bright yellow of the famous cedrata is entirely natural. It is a company with unique know-how, a wonderful brand and a great opportunity for growth that fits perfectly with the Lunelli Group's philosophy.”

What can a company that represents Made in Italy around the world do to ensure our country continues to be seen as a byword for excellence?

“Made in Italy has to keep working on its strengths. I believe all excellent Italian products have an extraordinary evocative power, because they remind consumers all over the world of our culture, our tradition and our magnificent landscapes. Thanks to the emotion they convey, Made in Italy products can bring back happy moments linked to our country and our way of life. Of course we have to be able to win the challenge of being contemporary. Our brands have a great tradition, but they have to be able to engage today's consumer, to be contemporary and to win the challenge of new markets. Italy, in any case, has a great competitive advantage and we must keep making the most of it.”

On that subject: how do you see the business future of our country? And of the luxury sector?

“I believe the luxury sector has a great future ahead of it. It is a sector that has kept growing over the years, that took a major hit during the emergency but recovered quickly. Not all high-end sectors will get back to pre-pandemic results in 2021, but many others already have, and in 2022 the market will stabilise. There remains a great future for the global luxury market. In this market Italy can and must play a leading role, and I say this also as chairman of Fondazione Altagamma: all the ingredients are there for it to do so. From a business point of view, though, there are challenges to take up in this market.

The first is size: the luxury market, for example, is dominated by large groups, of enormous size, which have strong advantages especially in managing retail or communication. In this context our companies sometimes suffer a little from being too small to compete successfully on the global market, and a process of consolidation would be desirable. I am very optimistic and remain convinced that Italy can play a leading role at the high end worldwide.”

What are the characteristics that lead a family business to become a very successful company?

“The challenge for a family business is to combine the values and passion that the family guarantees with a managerial structure and organisation.

For a family business it is essential to be able to attract talent, people with whom to share values and aims.

Today our Group is growing and getting stronger because we have managed to build a team of managers and staff who share our passion for this company and who have brought important professional experience with them, including from other sectors. Once they have joined, though, you must not let them get away. That's why it's important to give them room and build a proper process of internal delegation. A family business tends to be deeply rooted in a place, and this bond must be maintained and nurtured. In a sense the challenge is not to lose your roots while being at the same time a company projected into the world and able to operate on global markets.

We feel we are a deeply Trentino company, but as a group we also have businesses in other regions, and I think it's important to keep strong roots and a strong local identity for each of our brands. At the same time, we recently opened an office in Milan, which for us is absolutely strategic for attracting certain talent and because Milan is the Italian city that can guarantee the greatest international reach.”

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